On Wednesday, September 23, the High School for Recording Arts hosted a students’ community meeting where awards were presented recognizing student and staff achievements, and recognizing Minnesota’s GEAR UP week, proclaimed by Governor Mark Dayton, September 21-25 in the 2015 school year.
G.E.A.R. U.P. (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program) was formed and put into place in 1993 by then-president Bill Clinton and Congressman Chaka Fattah, to assist first-generation, low-income, and under-served youth to get ready for post-secondary educational opportunities.
Under the Office of Higher Education’s Get Ready program, this is a federal college and career readiness program that has helped thousands of young people to start college. Many of these students, for a variety of reasons, receive no economic support from their families upon starting college, and there are economic and cultural disparities that greatly interfere with college learning.
One of the founders of the High School for Recording Arts, T.C. Ellis, stated during the event, “We need all of you to spend more time with us…in order to G.E.A.R. U.P. and get ready for college.”
There are a total of nine schools in Minnesota — located in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Brooklyn Center — currently participating in the Office of Education’s Get Ready program. Supporters say that it is imperative that targeted communities get more involved in this effort.
Raymond Jackson welcomes reader responses to rayjack49@yahoo.com.